Report alchemist11's Profile

Hello everyone!

My name is Saad Syed. alchemist11 is the pseudonym I use in the anime and manga community, while jonnyquesty2k is the alias I use in the non-Japanese media community, such as the Final Gear forum. I am an Architectural and Product Designer living in Toronto, Canada. My ethnicity and nationality are the following: British, Canadian and Asian (non-oriental).

I am the Group Manager (among other roles) of ray=out, a non-profit, independent Japanese and Chinese anime and manga translation and subtitle provider. The organisation was founded in Q1 of 2006 and currently strives for three primary goals: to subtitle neglected anime; to provide the utmost accurate translation with an editing style best suited for the project; and to promote its services so that others can learn how to subtitle, where or how to learn Japanese, and the potential career benefits by taking part (e.g. editors may be able to use the skills they learn formally in publication; typesetters in graphic design, translators in many future endeavours such as in gaming, anime or manga translation, etc.). We try to train individuals in each of these roles. We have a rather small team that is always looking for new people to help release faster. We can be contacted via Facebook, IRC (#ray=out@irc.rizon.net), and E-mail. As of 2018, ray=out no longer provides learning opportunities. The resources for this has come to a close. For learning Japanese, we now recommend you go with the many YouTube or App-based services available for free or paid, in addition to formal education at a university or college and the notable JET Programme.

Translators that have been trained by us have gone on to work in the education, translation and gaming industries for companies such as Sony Computer Entertainment, DeNA, Pole To Win, teaching positions in Japan and their own contract-based businesses.

If there is an anime or manga you really want to watch or read, you can hire us to translate that for you. We will provide you with just the translation or without any additional compensation, we will subtitle or scanlate the entire project if said content meets our interests. Payments will be made to the respective translators while we get a certain per cent cut of that to purchase various content such as, but limited to books, DVDs, BDs, capture equipment and more. We charge $20-60 USD per episode for anime content (varies on the duration of the anime or the amount of research we have to do if said anime is historical, contain fiction or non-fiction media) and $1-3 per page for manga content (translations are the lowest charge, while the maximum applies for situations where you are asking us to subtitle or scanlate the content). We will provide you a money-back guarantee that our translation is accurate and the editing is justified. There is no instalment plan, so you can discontinue at any time. Keep in mind, we use the British spelling and grammar standard. If you want the US standard, please let us know in advance. As of 2018, this service has temporarily been suspended. Like the learning opportunities, resources are scarce. We will still take requests, but they shall be put on queue.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding anything, feel free to send a personal message or email at jonnyquesty2k[at]gmail.com. If you would like to contribute and help ray=out or ask something about our services, email me at the following address: rayoutfansubs[at]gmail.com.

Best Regards.

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My views on (completed) anime ratings:

10 (Masterpiece) - Usually for anime that is original or unique, for anime that are perfect in every aspect in my view, including choice of music to evoke emotion. Usually anime that have made me cry, overjoyed, or satisfyingly entertained as a whole. I don't have many with this rating, but some are part of my favourite anime of all time. For example: Clannad and Mobile Suit Gundam 00. .

9 (Excellent) - Similar to the masterpiece rating, but fell short in one aspect. This aspect differs from anime to anime depending on the story. About a quarter of the anime on my list have this rating, so they simply fell short of being masterpieces. Keep in mind, my views on ratings have changed from when I first started rating anime, so some of these could possibly be 10s or 8s, while some of the 10s could be 9s if I were to go over them again.

8 (Great) - Once again, similar to masterpiece rating, but fell short on a couple aspects, mostly in relation to the ending and me wanting more. Some of the anime from this rating could also be 9s, while 9s could be 8s. These anime are great, but not something I would want to watch again after a month, because it is predictable. I usually give sports and comedy anime this rating.

7 (Average) - I consider this rating as 'par' or average. It is neither special nor bad in any way. There are many anime with this rating which sadly don't live up to their expectations or I simply don't like many things from it. Irrespective of the story, any anime can get this rating as long as it has a good voice cast (not annoying or bad). If it has a good or great story, the rating shall increase, while if it has a story that goes sour, it could possibly turn south as well.

6 (Below Par) - Now we are getting into the bad anime territory. You could almost say that if I knew I was giving these a 6 out of 10 prior to watching it, I would not watch it at all. Basically, anime I almost regret watching. They are not terrible, but they are not good at all. Some evoke emotion, like Air but not in a good way either - angst feelings. These also have bad stories or bad characters that have a greater enfluence than the protagonist, so that completely takes the focus away.

5 (Borderline) - I have rated only two anime (as of when this was information was written) with this rating, one of which was something I subtitled (and the other a short special). The anime was not my cup of tea, but I did end up watching it, or at least enough to understand what was happening, so I gave it a borderline rating.

4 (Tolerable) - For the sake of completion, I had to watch the anime which I rated this. It was appallingly bad because of the voice cast. Talking about Kenichi... Kugimiya Rie had a very annoying voice for her character. In Hayate no Gotoku, she is okay, but not a martial-arts-based shounen anime where she talks a lot. The original VA was 10x better.

3-1 - I have not given any completed anime with this rating. On my dropped list, I have anime rated this low, but these are anime which wasn't able to sustain my interests, hence they are dropped.